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Monday, February 27, 2017

Chapter 323 When words aren’t enough

Take me away

Feeling
her throat go dry, Sophie took another sip from the glass and handed it to Rance.
“Go on then,” she said. “What are you thinking?”

“My dad suggested it and I think it’s a great idea,” he said, then downed
the rest of the soda and put down the empty glass. He rubbed his hands
together, then took both of hers. “You can intern for us.”

A
slight frown creased her brow. “I don’t even know what that means,” she admitted, feeling
rather stupid.

“Well, it’s just a try-out for a permanent job, learning
as you go and there are lots of different places for you to try if one doesn’t fit you. It’s a huge company, and Dad's always hiring fresh new people, so there's a good chance you can find a job there that you like, a good paying job with benefits, and I
know you. You’re smart, hard working,
and creative and imaginative. You love to learn and try new things. I’m sure you’ll excel. I’m more sure of you doing great than me!”

“Because I don’t know nuttin ‘bout no corporation work? That makes no sense at all!” she said. “You want me to single
handedly bring down your company? Cuz I’m pretty sure I can do
it without trying.”

“No, you could never do that, cuz you would try. Sophie, you’re fun to be with and charming and gorgeous. According to
my dad, that’s just as important as
being competent and everybody that’s ever known you for
more than half a minute knows you’re way competent. People
will like you cuz you’re fun to be around and
you make them feel good without even trying. You have people skills so coworkers will listen to you when they like you and they will trust you when they see you have confidence in yourself and in them, and they'll love your can-do attitude cuz it spurs them on.”

“You sound just like your dad!” she said, but she shook
her head. “I still don’t see that I can do this,
Bug. Don’t internships at huge corporations usually go to college
grads with MBAs from Wharton and law degrees from Harvard? I had barely one
year at Miami U and I didn’t do much there, you know
better than anybody! I skipped most of my classes to be touring around Florida with
you and the guys.”

“Sophie, it's…”

They
were interrupted by another knock on the door.

“What is it?” Rance said,
impatiently.

Ronnie
came in again, wearing a sheepish expression. “Sorry…um…your father is looking
for you, Rance. The orphan kids are getting ready to go home and your father
said he has presents for them in the car.”

“Oh, shoot! Totally forgot about that,” he said standing up.

“Your dad bought presents for the orphan kids?” Sophie asked, stunned. "How does he even know about them?"

“He does every year since the beginning,” Rance said. “He knows the founder, he’s good friends with him so…”

“Your father knows the founder of the Littlest Angels
orphanage?” Ronnie said, stunned. “Who is it?”

“Morris Kramer, of course. You must know him. I saw him at
the party with his new wife,” Rance said, curiously
watching the astonished expressions on both faces. “What’s up?”

“Yeah, we know him, don’t we, Ronnie?” Sophie said, laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Rance said.

“Nothing,” Ronnie said, looking
distinctly uncomfortable.

“Morris Kramer is Ronnie’s new grandfather. He married
Ronnie’s grandmother,” Sophie said.

“Dude, that’s way cool,” Rance said. “He told my dad how happy
he is to finally have heirs for his vast
fortune.”

“Yeah, well…your dad says you have
the car keys,” Ronnie said.

“Yeah, I do,” Rance said, first
searching his pants pockets, then looking in his suit jacket. “Found them.”

“Listen, just give me the
keys and I’ll help your dad with the gifts. You stay here and… finish up with Sophie. I think your dad will want to leave
soon after this.”

“No worries,” Ronnie said, his eyes for a moment lingering on Sophie
before closing the door behind him.

Rance turned to Sophie
and caught the look on her face as she stared at the closed door. “You’re still in love with
him,” he said, and it was not
a question.

She
shrugged. “What does it matter? He doesn’t want me, remember?” she said. “I’m just a step-sister to him.”

"Sure he does," Rance mumbled. He
sighed and sat back down. “I wish you would give up
on him, like really forget about him and give… give somebody else a
chance,” he said, almost angry.

“ Forget about him, Bug…. Geeze, it’s going to take me forever to remember to call you Rance,” she said. “So, how would this internship
work? I mean, would I be able to go to Columbia at the same time or…”

“Actually, no,” he said. “It would be impossible to do both. An internship is more than a full time job, like ten to twelve hours each day, maybe more if required and remember you're competing for this job so the more you put into it the better you look to your supervisor who is the one who evaluates all the interns. So, you're more likely to get picked over the others if you impress him or her. Also traveling is involved which is even more time on the job."

“Where would I have to go?” she asked, suddenly
quite eager to learn more.

“All over the world,” he said casually. “Depending what department you’re in and what you get
to do…. mostly domestic travel at first, but eventually wherever
we have interests…which is nearly
everywhere. Europe, the Orient, South and Central America.”

She
bit her lip and thought for a minute. On one hand it sounded exciting, really
amazing, and it definitely was an awesome opportunity to see and experience so much, but on the other, she
would be in competition with much older and smarter college grads with real
business degrees. What chance could she have of succeeding when she had all that
against her? None, that’s what!

“I…I dunno, Bug,” she said, anxiously. “Have no idea what my mom
would think of this. I know this would be an awesome opportunity, but she was
so set on me going to college. I just don’t think I’m up to it.”

“I thought you might think that. I had another idea that
might be better for you in the long run,” he said. “And it would be great for me.”

“Like what?”

“You can work for me, with me. You could have a real job right now as my personal
assistant,” he said eagerly.

He
laughed and shook his head. “No, I can take care of
my own dry cleaning and lunch is usually brought in for my dad's staff so I don't have to worry about that. Also, I’m allergic to dogs and I
don’t have a car. Don’t need one in the city,” he said. “I mean as my personal
assistant you’ll be right beside me every step of the way, helping me so that whatever I learn you would learn, so we could help each
other and you’ll have a pretty good
starting salary, better than an intern’s.”

Her
eyes widened. “How good is pretty good?” she asked.

“Well, let's just say you won't believe how good, but we can talk about that later,” Rance said. “Think about it, okay? You don’t have to decide right
now. Talk to your mom about it, ask your uncle what he thinks, your cousins,
even the Stroganoff boys.”

“Whining about losing husbands and wives that they admitted they didn’t even really like…”

“And trying to hook up with each other,” he finished.

“Ugh! I don’t know if you were there
when this guy… I swear he was old
enough to be my great-grandfather… he came up to me and
asked me out. He literally wanted to take me to a dance at his retirement village. I was like, eww, gross!”

They
both grimaced and burst out laughing.

“We can laugh about it now, but back then we were…” Sophie said.

“In serious need of help,” he said. “So glad I went just cuz I met you there. You helped me
through a rough time.”

She
nodded. “I was still so messed up cuz of my dad, but…” Sophie grinned impishly. “I’m not so sure you weren’t there to pick up older chicks. Couple of cougars there liked you just fine!”

He
laughed. “No, definitely not. I was in no mood for that crap.”

“I did wonder about you, though, really,” Sophie said. “You came in that first
day wearing that hoodie pulled up over your head, with sunglasses on and it was night time. Nobody
could see your face. I thought you were gonna pull out a gun and rob us or take
us hostage or something.”

“No way! You didn’t really think that!” he said, shocked.

“I did, but only for a
little while. Before you told us about your mom.”

“I’d just broken up with Hanna and I was feeling really low…what a piece-a-work she
was. I told you that she found out who I really was and expected me to buy her
a car or something or she’d go to the tabloids
with some story about me.”

“She never did anything,
though, did she?”

“Not that I know of. After
that I was paranoid that everybody would recognize me and start blackmailing me or worse! It was exactly what my
dad warned me would happen, but I didn't believe him. I swore I’d never fall for another
pretty, empty-headed girl ever again and certainly never tell her my secrets!”

“Not a dinner whore after your money, anyway. You did eventually tell me, so you musta trusted me. So far it’s worked,” Sophie said. “You haven’t complained about any
girls like that lately.”

“That’s cuz…no other girls existed with you around,” he said.

“You mean I scared them away? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to,” Sophie said, then she frowned. “But the other guys had no problem. They had plenty of
groupies following them around.”

He
shook his head. “I mean I didn’t care about anybody else because I cared only for you, Sophie,” he said slowly and distinctly.

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Violet’s in Bloom is set in modern times in a fictitious small town, Catalpa Valley in upstate New York. The story centers around three people, one desperate for love and family, the other just as desperately holding onto the past and the ghost who unwittingly stands in their way.

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